


Route to Excellence

by ImperfectSilence



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:21:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26830588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImperfectSilence/pseuds/ImperfectSilence
Summary: An AU adventure set in the world of pokemon. Blending some of the common tropes and pokemon lore, with a dash of fix-it economics.Elsie delayed her adventure to be better prepared. But, as her life falls apart, she's thrown into being a pokemon trainer whether she wanted it or not.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Route to Excellence

Setting out from home was nerve wracking, even if she had waited five additional years to start. While most trainers started their journey at 10, Elise had opted to wait, working at the town’s café to earn a nest egg and spending her nights researching. She wanted to be the best trainer, and the research said that the best trainers loved and were loved by their Pokémon. So she was doing everything she could to fulfill that, to learn how to care for each and every Pokémon she might find.

Cedar Falls was a small town, nestled along the pass through the mountains. It was quiet and peaceful, with only a few travelers coming through any given week. Of course, like all towns, it had peaks and troughs. During the summer months, the roads were more deserted, as the warmer temperatures lead to a more dangerous trek through the passes. When you get a warm week or two, avalanches aren’t uncommon. The café, Icicle Drip, was a small lodge. Whatever picture you have in your head of a small building up in the mountains, you’re probably close. Central to the café is the firepit, with racks along the sides to dry clothes or roast whatever. The kitchen is along the back, with rooms along the sides. The front porch isn’t heated unless some traveler has a fire-type they let out. Pine and stone, it’s sturdy and snug, with a small but dedicated shrine to Articuno out back.

Two years ago, there was an avalanche. Eight days of mild temperatures sent half the mountain rolling over town. Elisa had been working at the time, and they were stuck in the café for two days while the league mustered up the manpower to get it cleared. Thankfully, there was only the owner of the café, Simon, and one guest there too. The hiker, who has late through the pass, let out his paras, who lit up its mushrooms. If they had kept the fire going, they quickly would have run out of air, trapped under all the ice and rock. The mass of snow kept them reasonably insulated, so there was no need to huddle together for warmth. Simon did strip the guest rooms of their blankets, and they did all curl up in the main room, but that was more for convenience than anything else. Elise thought it might get touchy with the bathroom, as there was only one source of light from the paras, but the hiker simply plucked a mushroom from his Pokémon and set it on the sink in the washroom. After two days of cold meat and stale bread, the league broke through. They had a crew of diglets and a quilava digging down while a sneasel and a glaceon shored up the sides. For the next month, the town had to climb out of the tunnels to get to their homes or anywhere else, but the snow slowly melted or was pushed away. One trainer, riding his mamoswine, cleared most of the main roads in exchange for free food and lodging.

Last summer, there hadn’t been any major collapses. One close call with some boulders coming down from an onix migrating, but other than that peaceful. Most of the traffic comes through in the late fall and early spring, when it’s still solidly cold, but the winds aren’t so bad. During the heart of winter, the passes through the mountain are full of blowing snow. Unless you’ve got something to shield you, you don’t travel without a guide.

That’s how Elise lost her mom. It was the cusp of November, and she thought she could make it to the next town to trade a few things safely. A pair of trainers tripped over her frozen body eight days later, basket still tucked in the crook of her arm. She took a wrong step, one-foot landing on packed ice, the other on empty air. They took everything she was taking to trade, of course. To them, it was free supplies. The only reason Elise was still here was because no one wanted the house. But, some old gym trainer was looking to retire and had been poking around last month. So, even if she wasn’t ready, it was time to start her journey.

Elise had packed everything she could during the previous week. All of her old things, her mom’s things, the dishes and books and everything else. She’d slowly pushed it on other people or had to trash it, sold parts to trainers as they passed through. The house wasn’t in her or her mom’s name, so she wouldn’t see anything from the sale. Technically, she’d been squatting there for the past year and a half. Her paycheck came on Tuesday, and then she’d hopefully have enough to take the gondola down.

The gondola was new- just put in place over the last year. For a fee, it would take you all the way down the mountain, or back up. The fee was reasonable for trainers, who regularly pulled in thousands of poke a month, but to a waitress/maid in a snowy town, the $500 was almost three months of paychecks. That was the disparity of Pokémon. In its purest form, trainers could simply do more. High speed transit, or delivery. Steady source of heat or power. Water or sunlight. They could dig, could build, could defend and attack and plow and grow and do everything under the sun. Pokemon simply made money, even if they didn’t battle. Elise was ready for some of her own, ready to be someone outside of the little town tucked away in the snow.

She had her eyes set on two Pokémon to start off with. First off, there was a flock of swablu that nested on the cliffs above the town. She’d been feeding them scraps for close to three months now, so one of them should be willing to tag along. Secondly, Mayor Tyson, ex-ranger, had a Lucario. The last trainer to come through had with them a pretty cute Breloom. They stayed for a while and…

He had all but promised her the egg. She didn’t know if it was going to be a Rilou or a Shroomish, but she’d be happy with either one. Elise shrugged on her bag and paused at the doorknob. Most everything was out of the house, and she didn’t expect to be able to come back, so she’d already written off everything she was leaving. Instead of locking up, like normal, Elise set the key in the mailbox and walked away.

“bluu.” Came from above, and sure enough, five or six Swablu were hovering around her. Elise laughed and dug in her pocket, digging out half a protein bar. Crumbling it in her hands, she stepped to the fence and laid her hands out.

“Bunch of freeloaders, you.” She gripes fondly as they land and peck up the bits of the bar. They’re soft creatures, even their beaks. Their pecks for the bits of food feel less like pecks and more like soft nudges, like someone poking you with a pool noodle. As they finish what she has, a couple fly off. She dusts her hands and two more hop around, looking for more. When it’s obvious there isn’t anything else, they too fly away. The last bird looks her in the eye from the fence. It’s puffy, the blue head and feet almost swallowed up by how downy the coat it. Out of the white fluff it stares, two bits of black in a sea of white.

“Come with me?” Elise asks, holding out an arm. She’s disappointed when it takes off, whirling up and away. It was a long shot, there was no guarantee. Feeding wild Pokémon is the traditional way to acquire them, but so few people did so anymore because it was so finicky. There was no guarantee they would come with you in the end, or even stay with you. Swallowing her disappointment, Elise walks to the Mayor’s home.

Like every other day, he’s in his home, sitting by the fire. She knocks on the door and he invites her in. She takes two steps in and closes the door, waiting for his Lucario to check her over. Tyson had lost part of his leg in the service, fending off a pack of Mighteyena. His Lucario had never forgiven him, or itself for letting him get hurt. So, every time someone came by, he had to check them out.

“Rio.” He barks, loping back to the chair by the fire he came from. He’s an older Lucario, with grey tinging the ends of his muzzle. His reflexes aren’t quite what they used to be either, but he’s still a force to be reckoned with, as shown whenever some Sneasel wander down and look for a fight.

“Elise.” Tyson says, looking over the end of his chair. “I suppose you’re here for the egg?”

“If you’ll let me care for it.” She says back, with just a hint of nerves.

“I was going to. Still might, but it’s not so simple a choice. I feel bad for you, girl, but-“ he sighs. “Some fancy pants trainer came by, checked the egg, and made me an offer. It has more zeros in it than I knew existed. I know you want it, and I know you’ll take good care of it, but the town could use that money.”

“I see.” She says. And she does, she knows that the town needs the money. They still owe the league for digging them out a few years back, and the gondola line wasn’t cheap to have constructed.

“Hell, I can’t decide. Go say goodbye to Simon and then come back.” Tyson says, waving her away.

Elise leaves disappointed once again and hikes across the town, all three streets of it, to the café.

“Hey there Lise. I’ve got your check stored in the back, you know where it is.” Simon says, looking up from the dough he’s kneading.

“Thanks.” She calls out, ducking behind the counter and disappearing through the door. Simon’s office is cramped, as it was designed to be a closet. But, he doesn’t need a whole lot of space. There a safe and a filing cabinet tucked on the other side of a chair with a fold up desk. She pops the drawer on the filing cabinet and finds her check. Since it’s the only thing in the drawer, it isn’t hard to find. As she passes back by the stove, a small cloud of black smoke erupts. Elise crouches down.

“I wasn’t going to leave you without saying goodbye.” She assures molty, the Slugma. He lets off another bubble of smoke and oozes along the bottom of the oven. Simon purchased the Slugma last year after the avalanche. It had made quite a splash in the town when he was delivered, the Staraptor swooping in with an obviously insulated box. It had taken Simon, her, and Tyson’s Lucario to get the box to the kitchen, and then some interesting maneuvering to deposit molty where he resides.

“Bye molty- stay toasty.” Elise says fondly, watching as he yawns again and closes his eyes.

“Telling him you’re leaving?” Simon asks as she stands back up.

“I’m not sure he’ll notice I’m gone, but yeah.”

“Even if he doesn’t I will.” Simon declares. “So I know you normally have me deposit your paycheck, but this week’s I cashed for you. Envelope should be pretty full.” Indeed, as she checks the weighty envelope, it’s stuffed with money.

“And here I thought this was severance papers.” She jokes.

“I can’t be so lucky.” He teases.

“Wait, this is more than my paycheck.” Elise says, counting the bills. “I’m over by ten, twenty, forty, seventy-”

“No, you’re not.” Simon says.

“Simon, I can count.”

“Never doubted that. But what it in there is what you’re owed.”

“Simon.” Elisa growls.

“Don’t push me. Every note in there is yours, fair and square.”

“Fine.” She says, tucking it away. “Thanks.”

“You’re starting an adventure. Plus, this puts me in a lower tax bracket.”

“You couldn’t just be nice, could you?” she teases.

“Me? Never. I’m heartless, don’t you know.” Simon smiles and waves. “Send me postcards!”

Shuffled out of the café, Elise starts the walk back to Tyson’s home but is stopped by a dark blur landing on the ground in front of her.

“Sol!” The Absol cries out, throwing its head to the side and causing Elise to pull up short. Tyson’s other Pokémon is the Absol, who still wears his ranger scarf. Absol eyes Elise for a split second before darting away, leaping and bounding for Tyson’s home. Elise scrambles to follow.

“Tyson? What’s going on?” Elise shouts, bursting into his home.

“Trouble. You’ve got to get out of here lass. There’s a grudge match happening up the mountain.” He warns, popping a handful of pain pills and grabbing his crutch.

“How bad is it?” Elise asks worriedly. “And how can I help?”

“An Aagron ran into a Tyranitar.” He says quietly, pulling on his old vest and frowning when it no longer zips over his belly.

“That’s not good.” She yelps, stepping out of the way of the now bustling team.

“Both could wipe us out easily. I’ve got to go do something.” Tyson growls, putting his hand on Lucario’s shoulder. “Sol, keep us guarded. If it comes to the worst...”

“Sol. Ab-sol.” The calamity warner replies, pressing against Tyson’s good leg before darting into the shadows.

A loud rumble comes from far off, and a bright flash of light splits the sky.

“Go! Get out of here!” Tyson shouts at Elise, hobbling as fast as he can up the mountain. Elise scrambles back and runs for the town gates as another shockwave hits. The ground under her feet shakes and the sound is deafening. The roaring wind and the hearty crash of impacts, metal screeching. It’s chaos, with rocks tumbling through the air and snow drifting around in clouds despite there the sun being out. A loud crack comes from the direction of the gondola as one of the cables breaks off. The sky flashes again but this time Elise isn’t sheltered by a barrier or a home. The blast wave sweeps her feet out from under her and she’s tumbling down the mountain. Bouncing from rocks to trees and smashing through snow and ice. The whole cliffside is unstable, sliding and falling as the peak destabilizes.

After bouncing and sliding Elise slams to a halt against a tree. Everything goes normal and quiet and she thinks its over, prays that it’s done that Tyson or someone did something and-

The sky bleeds white, stark light and shadow. The cliffside collapses and she’s tumbling as the granite under her calves and splinters. Caught up in the avalanche, Elise does the best she can to swim atop the morass of debris like she was told to the last time the town held emergency preparedness meetings. A loud cry comes from above her and she tilts her head back to see a giant shape in the sky, great wings blotting out the sun. The air goes cold and hardens, like winter squeezing them all for daring to not bow. The torrent of rock and snow halts, losing momentum and trickling to a stop. Elise, however, doesn’t stop and tumbles off the pile of rocks. She hits the ground and all of the breaths whoofs out of her. Aside from a few loose pebbles and snowballs, the disaster is over. She lies on the ground, gasping for breath for a moment before she can finally suck enough in to sit up. Immediately, the cold sets in. Caught off guard, Elise feels goosebumps arise, then immediate shivers. Her clothes are half soaked, she’s bruised and bleeding, and all she wants to do is cry but the tears won’t come it’s so cold. She sits by a part of a tree still above the snow and ice and lets her teeth chatter. She’s worried about Cedar Falls, about Tyson and his team. There’s no way to know what happened without climbing back up, and who knows how many Pokémon were dislodged by the avalanche.

A soft weight settles on her head and something soft and fluffy wipes the dirt and sweat from her face.

“bloo.” The bird coos, wiping her face with it’s wing again. The swablu pecks at her hand, but she’s got nothing for it.

“I’m sorry. When I- I- when I find something, I’ll- I’ll feed you. Th- Thank you.” She chokes out past her teeth. The bird coos again and shuffles on her hair like a particularly thick hat. Strangely enough, Elise is warming up. Her shivers start to fade, and she takes the chance to look back at the mountain. She can’t see the town, but she’s not sure if she should be able to from here. As she pulls her head back, she catches something- the gondola lines are all snapped and hanging listlessly. She follows the line up to where it should connect and there’s just nothing there. That’s when her eyes grow hot and the tears come. She moves to wipe them away, but a downy soft wing gets there first.

“bloo.” The bird says, tucking its wings over her ears. Elise waits for a while, not really wanting to move. Not without knowing if its safe, or where she is exactly. A shape wreathed in blue bounds down the mountain, simply bending from place to place. With a slight flourish, he lands in front of her and hands Elise the egg. Tyson’s Lucario is old, but strong. He’s bleeding and the ranger vest is in tatters, but he’s standing.

“For me?” she asks, shrugging off her jacket to wrap around the egg.

“Rio.” It coughs, nodding and leaping its way back up the mountain. She tries to ignore the streak of blood it left on the rock.

Elise bows her head and sends a quick prayer to Articuno for them to be safe. The sound of distant battle is still strong, booming and echoing despite having brought down half the mountain. She’s got to move if she wants to stay alive- there’s no telling when the next chunk of cliffside will come crashing down. She can barely make out the remains of one of the gondola towers in the distance and climbs to her feet. Egg in her arms and Swablu resting comfortably on her head, Elise sets out for the sign of civilization.

The route down the mountain is treacherous, and more than once Swablu saves her by calling out in alarm as she nears a cliff edge. Elise is shivering again, but there’s nothing to be done about that. The egg wrapped in her jacket and tucked in her arms needs to stay warm and safe. Slowly she picks her way to the gondola tower. It’s half bent and falling, three of four cables snapped off, thick braided steel hanging down. Elise doesn’t see any Pokémon, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. She cold too, no longer feeling her toes in her shoes. Her fingers, tucked in the sleeves of the jacket stay warm enough, but she’s not in good shape.

But, with no other option, she follows the last cable, careful to not lose her footing and fall. By leapfrogging from gondola tower to gondola tower, Elise slowly manages to make her way down the mountain. At the bottom of the gondola is Dewport Town, a bigger but still rural town in the valley. The temperature eases up some, but Elise can’t really tell. The white and grey of stone and ice have slowly melted to show browns and greens, but she’s got tunnel vision.

* * *

The first place she goes once she makes it to town is the Pokémon Mart. She steps in through the door and tries not to sigh in relief. Inside is toasty, compared to outside, and Elise tries not to cry it feels so good. 

“We’re closing up, but I won’t make you come back tomorrow. What can I get you?” the shopkeeper asks, setting down his broom.

“Three pokeballs.” Elise asks, then thinking again, “Plus a potion.”

“That’ll be 900 even.” He replies, pulling up the asked for items.

“Oh.” She blushes, biting her lip, “I don’t have that much. Um, drop the potion and one of the pokeballs.”

He pulls the two away and Elise digs out her envelope and counts out 400 before passing it over.

“Have a good day.” The shop keep says.

“Thanks.” Elsie says with a grateful smile, bracing herself to walk back out into the cold.

It is still bitterly cold out, and she wasn’t in the store nearly long enough for her clothes to even remotely dry, so she starts shivering right away. Thankfully, the Pokémon center is lit up and not far. Elsie sprints for the building and slides though the doors as soon as they’re wide enough for her.

“Can we help you?” The nurse behind the counter asks.

“Yes, I’d like to check in my Swablu and see if a room is available.” Elise asks.

“I can get your Swablu checked over, but we have no empty rooms tonight. You are welcome to try your luck on a bench, but we hold no liability if anything happens.” The nurse says.

“Okay, thank you.” Elise replies. The nurse stands for a moment, no one moving before coughing,

“Um, if you could just return your Swablu to its pokeball?”

“Right! Sorry.” Elise says, pulling the fluffy Swablu off her head and holding a pokeball with her other hand.

“Alright, I need you to take a nap in here for a bit.” She tells the bird.

“Bloo.” It protests, little feet gripping her fingers.

“It’s just for the night. I promise I’ll let you out first thing tomorrow.” Elise says.

“Bloo.” It’s wary, but the Swablu does go into the pokeball.

“Here.” Elise says, passing the ball over.

“We’ll take good care of her.” The nurse promises. Elsie nods and follows the signs for the laundry facilities. The room is a small one with four washers and dryers, two in use despite it being nearly 10pm. Elise carefully unwraps the egg and changes from her wet shirt into the jacket, thankful that she wears her Dad’s old jacket as she tugs her soaked leggings off. She loads up the washer and hits start, cuddling the egg close and sitting on her washer.

A trainer comes through with earbuds in, unloading her things from the dryer and leaving without a word. She changes her clothes to the now vacant dryer and settles to wait again. Sometime later, before the dryer finishes, another trainer comes in, earbuds in as well. He goes about switching one load of clothes over and pulls the other from the dryer. As he’s leaving, he tugs an earbud out and looks at Elise

“You realize you’ve given everyone who’s walked by a free show, right?”

Elise meeps, and checks, and yep, with the way she’s sitting she’s flashing her panties at everyone who walks by. She shifts position, draping a leg in front of them and shifts the egg in her arms. The dryer is warm, and Elise is nodding off from the rocking, almost asleep when it clunks to a halt. Checking that the coast is clear, she hops down and pulls her shirt back on. Hiding behind one of the machines, she changes her underwear for her leggings and pops her bra off before tossing her underthings in the dryer. This time she doesn’t have to be so cautious, and the trainer comes back later, not even hiding his look to see if she took his advice to heart. He doesn’t say anything one way or another, and leaves once he collects his clothes. She’s nearly asleep again when she has to shift her things over, and the cycle repeats one more time.

Finally, around 2 am, Elise is done with everything. Her clothes are clean and dry, and she’s in one piece. She wanders back to the lobby of the pokecenter and finds a bench to curl up in, egg cradled in her arms. She so exhausted, she falls asleep even in such an uncomfortable position.

The morning dawns and Elise is ready to face a new day and move on for a less rocky place to begin her journey. She’s hoping to make it to the lowlands or even the coast; somewhere she can take it easy training her Pokémon and learning with them. But, as she reaches for her bag, she realizes that someone took it in the night. She panics, and looks around, but in her heart she knows it was sitting against the leg of the bench when she lay down. In it was everything she had- her money, the pictures of her mom and dad, her rations, her PC access key, everything.

Elsie solemnly draws her Swablu out from the nurse on duty and starts poking around outside, Swablu nested once again in her hair, but quiet. It can sense Elise’s tumult. She wanders town, avoiding the people and keeping an eye out in the ditches and gullies. Near the edge of town she spies her bag, tossed in the briars along the road. She flights down to her bag and pulls it out, happy to have it back.

The money is gone of course. She didn’t expect it to still be there, but what are worse to her are her pictures. Her only memory of her dad is half soaked, and her mom’s picture is completely ruined. Elise feels like crying again, but she holds it together. She can survive, somehow. This is a small setback, but she can make it. She’s got Swablu now, and whoever is inside her egg. For now, she tucks the egg in the bag and slings it on her back. In her back pocket is her trainer ID, on her belt are her pokeballs, and on her head her Swablu. She’s got this.

It takes a lot of haggling, but a day later Elise is employed once more. She’s a waiter at a café again, doing what she always does. The trainers are rougher, more cocky and arrogant, but she prevails. Finishing her first day, she clocks out and, exhausted, sets out for the Pokémon center.

‘Hey, wait up! You’re a trainer right? Then I challenge you to a battle!” one of the guys who was hanging around the café demands, pulling out a great ball.

“Um, sure.” Elise says, tired and not really versed in battling. She spent most of her studies on treating Pokémon and helping them, not fighting with them.

“Go, Lairon!” he shouts, sending out a massive metal and rock Pokémon, who roars as soon as it sees her.

Timidly, Elise tugs her Swablu off her head and tosses it into the air.

“You’re up Swablu!” she cries out.

“I’ll let you go first.” The trainer sneers, bowing at her mockingly.

“Um, do your thing!” Elise says. Swablu flies up high before swooping down, glowing slightly, and crashes into Lairon. The metal Pokémon doesn’t even move, showing no signs of damage.

“Lairon, rock slide.” The trainer says.

Swablu tries to dodge, but she can’t get out of the way of them all and she falls to the ground, fainted.

“Swablu!” Elise cries out, rushing to grab her Pokémon.

“Alright, that’s that.” The trainer says, snatching her paycheck from Elise’s hands.

“Hey, what are you?!”

“I won the battle.” The trainer says, pulling out half of the money she just earned. “See you tomorrow.” He turns and walks back to his friends, laughing.

Elise runs for the Pokémon center, passing over her hurt Swablu and sitting on a bench. The trainer passes by later and gives her a wave, walking down the hall to his room laughing. She hears him talking to his friend, and some of it echoes down the hall, “…easy money.”

It’s only then, once the reality of it all sinks in that Elise finds the tears falling. Her shoulders shake and cheeks burn as she can’t help but feel useless, like there’s nothing she can do. She’s stuck in this horrible situation, with no end in sight.

True to his word, he’s there the next afternoon as they close up, and Elise fares no better than she had before. She takes to working with Swablu during her breaks, learning what her new companion can do in the fifteen minutes she can grab here and there. Slowly she learns to work the crowd in the valley. She gets compliments on her well behaved Swablu, or the lovely hat she has. But, no matter how much she makes in tips, at the end of the day that trainer one hit knocks Swablu out and takes half of her earnings. After a week she just starts holding out her pay slip and the end of the fight, but he crosses his arms.

“Nu-uh. A winning trainer gets half of what you’ve got. I’ve been nice so far, but you’ve been making money for a week now. Hand over your wallet. With no other option she does, and he takes half of everything she has. This repeats week after week, and Elise barely can stay afloat. She works her butt off during the day, every day of the week, only to lose it all in a matter of moments every night. It’s six weeks of this before Elise is ready to run off into the wilderness, wild Pokémon of not. Anything is better than this dead end cycle. She has no chance to train her Swablu up, no opportunity to catch another Pokémon, and the egg stubbornly won’t hatch, and Elise can’t decide if that’s better for it or not. If it does hatch, it may be able to help her defeat the guy, but if it can’t, then it’ll only be brought into a world to lose, day after day, which is no life for a young Pokémon. It’s obvious the trainer doesn’t care, just milking her for money over and over. He’s living the grand life, ordering fancy things off the menu and gallivanting around with strings of pokeballs.

She’s just about had enough when something new happens: another trainer walks into town. The new guy is buff and strong, along with his Machoke. They challenge her tormentor during Elise’s lunch shift, and the new guy wipes the floor with the old one. But, then, as she gets off of work, who should be there but the new guy.

“Battle.” He grunts, tossing out a Geodude.

Elise sighs and tosses Swablu up in the air. Swablu tries her best, but Geodude is just too tough for her, and the match goes his way. He takes half her money and Elise walks the familiar road to the Pokemon Center.

The next day starts the same as the last, with Elise reporting to work. She does her best and walks out-

“Battle.”

“No way, I was here first! Find your own honeypot.” The two trainers squabble outside of the café, leaving Elise stuck on the porch. She tries to slip past them, but they both catch her and stop her. They quickly hash out an agreement to alternate days, and that’s when Elise breaks.

“I fucking hate you!” She screams, tears pricking her eyes as she holds her Swablu close and runs for the forest. They both give some chase, but she runs into the darkness faster than they can catch her, and let her go, unwilling to face the wilds at night.

They both stick around another day or two, but when she doesn’t return they move on.

* * *

Elise runs as far as she can, reacting to not fall, clutching her Swablu tight. The bird coos at her and tries to soothe it’s trainer, but Elise is too far gone to pay attention. Her legs carry her through the forest, the tromping loud enough to scare off anything in their path, and she finally collapses on a rocky hill.

“I’m never going back.” She sobs, hugging her knees as Swablu flaps to her head.”I’m never going back there to those jerks.”

“Bloo.” Swablu coos, preening her trainer.

“Oh god, what am I going to do?” Elise groans. “I can’t stay out here, it’s too dangerous. But if I go back it’ll never end.”

“Bloo.”

“Why do people have to be such, such, assholes?” Elise asks. “I mean, how hard is it to just not be a dick? To camp down and beat on a person who is obviously struggling day after day, over and over again, never letting them have a day off- it’s heartless. I hope they die cold and alone.” She snarls.

At some point, Elise falls asleep, because she wakes up to a bright morning- sun streaming over the valley and illuminating the magnificent view of the mountains and the forest and the town nestled below her. It’s breathtaking, and Elise wishes she still had her camera to capture it. But, looking over, the sun also illuminates the clouds rolling in over the purple peaks.

“Looks like rain,” She says to Swablu, “we’d better find shelter.” They set off to look for a cave or an outcropping they can roost under, but there’s no avail. The rain starts slowly, with light sprinkles of droplets, but steadily grows bigger and faster. Soon it’s pouring. Elise is soaked to the bone, rain dripping off her nose and running into her eyes. Swablu is perched on her head, but a sodden mass of wet fluff that takes forever to dry. Finally, they find a small cave and Elise ducks inside. Letting Swablu perch on a rock, Elise darts back into the deluge for some wood. Gathering what she can, Elise fishes out her tinderbox and knife, stripping the wet wood of its outer layers. When she has enough dry kindling, Elise coaxes a small fire from the wood. As it grows and dries the other logs, she feeds it more. With a fire, Swablu and her aren’t cold and her clothes slowly dry off. The smell, of course, is awful. Swablu is drying out slowly, but the smell of wet down is atrocious. Elise just has to put up with it.

She leans back on a rock and closes her eyes, tired and hungry, but alive. Tomorrow she’ll figure out what next.

Elise wakes to rain dripping off the overhand outside of the cave, the fire sputtering out as it eats the last embers. Not looking forward to going back out into the storm, Elise picks up her still sleeping Swablu and starts exploring the cave. It’s deeper than she thought it was, a lot deeper.

Curving around the opening cavern, one hand trailing on the rock wall, she climbs over and under boulders, squeezing through some tight cracks. She pushes the thought that she shouldn’t be able to still make out the path from her mind. She also forgets the danger of wandering into strange places in the wilderness.

Routes are carefully structured and cleared areas, patrolled by powerful trainers to make sure nothing truly dangerous gets on them. Outside of those areas are the wild lands, where anything could be living. Some of the routes are dangerous even with a full team of experienced Pokémon at your side, so wandering in far off the path in some remote cave without any backup but a Swablu who hasn’t stood up to anything besides a few Rattata is foolish to the extreme. But, Elise can’t find it in her to care.

The cave branches into two around the next bend, and Elise has to choose a side to take. To the left, she thinks she can hear water lapping at the rock, while the right side howls with wind. Well, nothing has gone right so far so she might as well.

The crack in the rock that leads to the right twists and constricts, so much that Elsie has to pull Swablu into the pokeball. She’s climbing vertical for sections, only to turn around and slide down another section. The howling sound gets louder and louder, until Elsie truly loses her grip and slides down a shale slope. In the dark she can’t see anything, but she can hear the echoing clatter of rock. The cave must be massive! She scrabbles and claws at the slope, nails tearing and hands getting shredded by the lumps of stone. Her feet drop off an edge and she screams, one hand getting a firm grip just in time.

Despite feeling like her shoulder has been pulled out of its socket, Elsie is alive. Using some unknown reserve of strength, she pulls herself up and back onto the slope. Careful she edges along the lip, gently and slowly finding a way around.

After what feels like hours, and very well could have been, since she has no way to mark time, Elsie finds solid ground. And, blinking her eyes, what could maybe be light. She been seeing spots for hours in the dark, but this seems like it might be real. Sure enough, as Elsie crawls and then hobbles, it’s light! She rushes forward, eager to be back in the sun, but trips over something on the ground.

Looking back at whatever it was she flipped over, Elsie freezes. It’s a larvitar. There’s a larvitar sleeping on the cave floor. Larvitar are rare, and dangerous to humans. They’re small, but powerful. Carefully, since it’s still sleeping, Elsie creeps toward the cave exit. But, she freezes before leaving.

What does she have to return to? A dead end job? Abuse by other trainers milking her for cash? It’s just her and swabluu. She should try and catch the larvitar, even if it’s dangerous. To be a pokemon trainer is to take risks, to be in danger. It’s by no means a safe job, even if you settle down somewhere. You are the line of defense, and collateral damage from a pokemon battle is no joke. Elsie remembers that larvitar aren’t the fastest, and that cinches her decision. Pulling out her only pokeball, Elsie looks at the green lump.

“Here goes.” She whispers, sending a quick prayer to whoever would listen, and throwing the ball. The capsule flashes, once, twice, a third time, before clicking and going dim.

“I- I caught it.” Elsie is in disbelief- she didn’t actually think she’d capture it. Sure, it was technically possible, but to catch a stubborn pokemon like a larvitar without weakening it first. She picks up the ball and tucks it on her belt, still not quite believing it.

Outside the cave, Elsie sees a whole new world. She’s at the base of a mountain, a vast forest stretching before her. No sign of snow at all.

Elsie isn’t sure what to do, or where to go, but she spies smoke drifting in the distance, curling gently up from within the forest. Maybe they can tell her where she is, or where the nearest town is. If not, well, she has a swabluu and a larvitar. She’ll be okay.


End file.
